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Saturday, April 16, 2016

Do you know
“Veeraraghava Mudali Street in Triplicane … and about
Edward Harrison who was the President of Madras !

On 9th
Apr 2016 – divine music outpoured at Gangai Kondan Mandapam at
Thiruvallikkeni. Music is heavenly when it is purely devotional – in our
cult, it is Nama Sankeerthanam, more colloquially bhajans. Before
Panchanga release function, was the soul-stirring performance of singing, drama
and highlighting of bakthi kirtans by Cuddalore Gopi Bagavathar, a veteran who
has been uplifting this culture for close to 3 decades now.

The Panchangam was released by the Chief Guest, received
by others on dias. The function was
utilised to thank the DC, Postal Authorities, Councillor, Brahmin Association
[which voluntarily deposited a sum of Rs.1.78 lakhs towards rent advance
deposit], individuals whose great efforts fructified, especially, Mr TJ Ramani,
Friends Society and various other individuals …. On stage, Kanchi Krishna was honoured for the
panchangam work. I compered the
programme and here are some excerpts from the speech.

There have been
messages on social media including FB &WA that 20th Apr would ‘Green Moon’ ~ a
rare astronomical phenomenon. There is
no truth in it, as Science and astronomy website EarthSky has
dismissed the green moon claims as an urban legend. The green moon is not even listed among the 2016 skywatching events on
Space.com or on any other reputable astronomy website. However, Moon, Earth’s only natural satellite
is always attractive. Our moon was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some
30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system. The Moon is in
synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the
Earth. It has diameter of 3,475 km,
Orbital of 384,400 km that is covered in 27.3 days

An occultation
occurs when a solar-system body passes in front of a more distant object (e.g.
a star or another solar system body), partially or totally hiding the more
distant object and momentarily blocking its light. Each occultation can be seen
only at the right time and from a limited part of the Earth. More prominent is the eclipse of Solar and
Lunar.

Our ancestors
have had great knowledge, especially in the field of astronomy and have
predicted and recorded eclipses. It is recorded that there was a lunar eclipse
within a fortnight of solar eclipse visible at Kurukshetra, where the
Mahabaratha war was fought, it was ominous.
This time, there would be no eclipse visible in India.

Sarvajith,
SArvadhari, virodhi, vikruthi, kara, nandana, vijaya, jaya, manmatha … names of
the precedent years in Tamil and now comes ‘Dhunmukhi’ .. In the ‘Vaivasvatha
Manvantharam, after passage of 27 Maha Yugas ~ now in the 28th Mahayuga – after
passage of 3 Yugas ~ in the Kali Yuga – after passage of 4 lakh 28 thousands of
years – in the year 5117 ~ Salivahana Saha
1938 ‘Year Durmugi ’ 27 th day in the tamil month of Panguni - that is Saturday, 9th Apr 2016 occurred ‘Durmugi Varusha Panchanga release function’.

Moving away from
Vedic Panchangam, once a mammoth Govt Dept employing most people next to Indian
Railways, the Department of Posts has lost most of its pristine glory now. It for sure has more than 1lakh 50 thousand
offices, of which a high % is in rural areas.
The post man was once the most respected and known person in any village
as people waited for his arrival expectantly everyday.. .. ..the highest post
office in the world is in Hikkim, Himachal Pradesh, India at a height of 15,500
ft (4,700 m) (postal code 172114). Recall the last time, you walked into any
Post Office for transacting any business ~ do you have a Postal SB Account or
at least a PPF account now ??

History reveals
that it was way back in 1712, Edward Harrison first started a Company Postal
Service in Madras to carry mail to Bengal by dak runner. By 1736, a postal
system of sorts was in place with a somewhat greater vision. In 1774, a system
of charging postage on private letters began. Decades later the postal rules
were in place ~ Chennai General Post
Office was initially opened in Fort St. George Square, just outside the Sea
Gate, on 1 June 1786. On his return to
England, Harrison was elected Member of Parliament for Weymouth, and served as
a Postmaster-General from 1725 till his death in 1732.

There was that
old building in Veeraraghava Mudali St [popularly Big Street] nearer the
Vegetable market – filling up a money order form was considered a knowledge. It
housed that famous Sri Parthasarathi Koil Post Office. Once that Big Street building was demolished
– Sri Parthasarathy Koil PO suffered. It
functioned for sometime from the premises of Triplicane PO ~ for sometime it
was in the near dilapidated structure at Hanumantharayan Street – for many
years residents of Thiruvallikkeni had been waiting patiently, moving mountains
in the fond hope that seemingly endless wait of Sri Parthasarathi Koil PO at
Thiruvallikkeni would dawn into a reality !!!
~ not all nursed the hope !

It was of
sentimental importance too. Any search
on Sulekha pages or elsewhere would
reveal the names of Post Offices as [certainly not the exhaustive list]: Adambakkam PO; Adyar PO; Alandur PO;
Alwarthirunagar PO; Ambattur PO; Aminjikarai PO; Annanagar PO; Annasalai PO; Mylapore
PO; Mandaveli PO; Sholinganallur PO; Sowcarpet PO; T Nagar South PO; Tambaram
PO; Taramani PO; Triplicane PO; West Mambalam PO ……….. simply there could be
hundreds of post offices but to those residents of Triplicane – the building
that housed Thiruvallikkeni Thapal Nilayam is a monument and many would have
green stories kindling nostalgia ~ and its name is unique for it is ‘Sri
Parthasarathi Koil Post Office’ ….. only
one of its genre named not after the locality but after our presiding deity Sri
Parthasarathi.

Speaker after
speaker thanked the DC / Postal authorities / Councillor and others for the
valiant efforts in bringing back the PO.
On 16th Dec 2015, it dawned a reality as the PO reopened at North Tank Square Street, in a premises
belonging to Sri Parthasarathi swami temple.